Tech News

Parler’s Downloads Fell Off a Cliff

Parler, the social media platform where Ted Cruz is free to dance naked under the cursed moon in the realm of the possessed, may not be the right-wing free speech utopia of the future. Despite offering a perfectly fine refuge for conservatives bitching about Facebook and Twitter and YouTube’s moderation policies, downloads of the app…

Tech News Whitney Kimball

Google Will Let You Limit the Alcohol and Gambling Ads You See

It’s not very often that Google shows care for anything besides its bottom line these days, but on Thursday, the company made a small step in the right direction by announcing a new setting that lets people limit the alcohol- and gambling-related ads they come across. Per the announcement, the feature will first roll out…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Google Is Now Calling on You to Help Develop Its Enigmatic Fuchsia OS

While it’s never been officially called a replacement for Android or Chrome OS, Fuchsia is an operating system Google has been working on for the last five years, and this week, Google announced that now it’s opening up Fuchsia to public contributions. In a post on the Google Open Source Blog, Fuchsia developer advocate Wayne…

Tech News Sam Rutherford

Mastercard, Discover, and Visa Dump Pornhub [UPDATE]

Following an opinion piece in the New York Times which called out both Pornhub for hosting nonconsensual and often illegal material, and the credit card companies for enabling the site to profit from it, Mastercard has terminated its relationship with Pornhub. For now though, Mastercard will continue to do business with parent company Mindgeek, which…

Tech News Whitney Kimball

We’re Finally Starting to See Some Great MagSafe Accessories, but They’re Not Coming from Apple

One of the more interesting features of the new iPhone 12 lineup is the return of the MagSafe power connector. It doesn’t only make wireless charging easier, as Apple demonstrated with a $60 wallet, it can also expand the usefulness of the device that’s always in your pocket. But MagSafe has even more potential than…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

I Feel Like $156,000 for a 110-Inch TV Is a Lot

Borrowing its microLED technology from “The Wall,” Samsung’s latest monster display was announced this week in Korea. Samsung announced its MicroLED-powered display system The Wall—yes, it’s really called that—back in 2018, describing it at the time as the “world’s first consumer modular MicroLED television.” Basically, the idea with The Wall is that its modular components…

Gadgets Catie Keck

Sentencing Nears for Gamer Who DDoS’d PlayStation Network as a Minor

A person behind a October 2016 cyberattack that temporarily crippled Sony’s Playstation Network and other online services has pleaded guilty to committing the act as a juvenile, Justice Department officials in New Hampshire said Thursday. Because the individual was a minor at the time, details about the incident, including the offender’s identity, remain sealed. For…

Privacy & Security Dell Cameron

Everybody Wants a Piece of Facebook

The day after the FTC and dozens of Attorneys General filed two separate suits against Facebook over it anticompetitive track record, the company’s being slammed with yet another antitrust probe—this time, from Germany’s antitrust regulator. Specifically, the country’s Federal Cartel Office (otherwise known as The Bundeskartellamt) announced plans to investigate the tie between Oculus’s virtual…

Social Media Shoshana Wodinsky

Leaked Samsung Galaxy S21 Teasers Show Off Divisive Design

Rumors have been swirling around claiming the Galaxy S21 could get announced as early as January (possibly a month sooner than S20’s debut last year), and now it appears some official teasers have leaked out giving us a glimpse at the S21’s unique design. First discovered by Android Police, the Galaxy S21’s new signature colors…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford

Johns Hopkins, Famous Philanthropist and Abolitionist, Actually Owned Slaves

Johns Hopkins, the 19th century philanthropist whose name graces some of the most prestigious scientific and academic institutions in America, was long thought to be a man who deplored slavery and fought to abolish the ownership of human beings in the U.S. But as it turns out, Hopkins actually owned other people over the course…

Tech News Matt Novak

CBS All Access Takes on Disney+ With New Features to Babysit Your Kids

Ahead of the launch of Paramount+ early next year, ViacomCBS has announced new kids-focused programming and features are arriving on CBS All Access. The features include the addition of up to six profiles per account, each of which can be managed by parents using “Kids Mode” to filter content by ratings for younger and older…

Internet Catie Keck

Google to Investigate Shady Ouster of Black AI Ethicist Timnit Gebru

After more than 2,200 employees signed a letter on Monday condemning Google’s reported decision to terminate a Black artificial intelligence ethicist, the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, apologized on Wednesday for the way the departure had been handled and said that the incident was being investigated. In a series of tweets, Dr. Timnit Gebru, a staff…

Tech News Brianna Provenzano

Hyundai Motors Reportedly Bought Boston Dynamics For Almost $1 Billion (Updated: It’s a Done Deal)

Update 12/11/20 9:30am ET — Boston Dynamics has confirmed that Hyundai Motor Group has acquired an 80% controlling interest in the robotics maker, while a SoftBank affiliate will retain a 20% stake in the company that was valued at $1.1 billion. Hyundai believes the acquisition will help the company transition to becoming a “Smart Mobility Solution…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Hackers Illegally Accessed Pfizer’s Preliminary Vaccine Data

A cyberattack on servers belonging to the European Medicines Agency—the EU regulatory body responsible COVID-19 vaccine approval—has resulted in the “unlawful access” of internal documents detailing the development of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. While the EMA’s own statementon the attacks doesn’t disclose much, simply confirming that the breach happened. However, pharma giant Pfizer and its…

Privacy & Security Shoshana Wodinsky

New Report Suggests FCC Massively Overstated Gigabit Coverage in U.S.

A report released today by BroadbandNow reveals the FCC grossly overreported the availability of gigabit internet in the U.S. As of 2020, the FCC reported gigabit internet was available to 84% of Americans, up from just 4% in 2016. But according to BroadbandNow, those numbers are closer to 56% in 2020, up from 2.4% in…

Internet Joanna Nelius

Pantone’s Colors of the Year, Ranked

Pantone has announced its Color of the Year for 2021. Typically, we only get one annual champion, but the purveyor of proprietary color spaces decided that 2021 deserves two colors because 2020 was the worst. Color of the Year is a relatively arbitrary award that has nonetheless been used in the past by designers to…

Tech News Rhett Jones

Microsoft Is Bringing Its Cloud Gaming Platform to PCs and iOS Next Spring

Microsoft announced in a blog post this morning that its cloud gaming platform with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is coming to iOS and PC in spring 2021. The company previously announced in October that it was working on bringing Xbox cloud gaming to PC and iOS. It cut short its Project xCloud testing on iOS…

Tech News Joanna Nelius

Sharp’s New Alexa-Powered Microwave Is Even More Confusing Than Amazon’s

When Amazon released a cheap microwave with built-in Alexa integration, most of us scratched our heads for a second and then quickly moved on. But now Sharp has created its own microwave powered by Amazon’s digital assistant, and somehow it’s even more confounding than the original. Unlike the $60 Amazon Basics microwave with Alexa, Sharp’s…

Tech News Sam Rutherford

Facebook Continues To Call The Kettle Black

On the same Wednesday that Facebook is reportedly facing a major state-led suit over its anticompetitive practices, the company seems to be falling back on the tried-and-true tactic of pointing at Apple instead. Axios first reported that the Facebook-owned messenger WhatsApp was firing back against the newly mandated privacy labelsthat Apple began requiring from app…

Social Media Shoshana Wodinsky

FTC and 48 Attorneys General Sue to Break Up Facebook

Dozens of attorney generals, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, filed two separate lawsuits against Facebook on Wednesday which attempt to break the social media giant into its component parts: specifically, the divestiture of WhatsApp and Instagram. The lawsuits claim Facebook illegally suppressed competition by purchasing rival companies that challenged its dominance. This includes…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky & Andrew Couts

Parler’s Downloads Fell Off a Cliff

Google Will Let You Limit the Alcohol and Gambling Ads You See

Google Is Now Calling on You to Help Develop Its Enigmatic Fuchsia OS

Mastercard, Discover, and Visa Dump Pornhub [UPDATE]

We’re Finally Starting to See Some Great MagSafe Accessories, but They’re Not Coming from Apple

I Feel Like $156,000 for a 110-Inch TV Is a Lot

Sentencing Nears for Gamer Who DDoS’d PlayStation Network as a Minor

Everybody Wants a Piece of Facebook

Leaked Samsung Galaxy S21 Teasers Show Off Divisive Design

Johns Hopkins, Famous Philanthropist and Abolitionist, Actually Owned Slaves

CBS All Access Takes on Disney+ With New Features to Babysit Your Kids

Google to Investigate Shady Ouster of Black AI Ethicist Timnit Gebru

Hyundai Motors Reportedly Bought Boston Dynamics For Almost $1 Billion (Updated: It’s a Done Deal)

Hackers Illegally Accessed Pfizer’s Preliminary Vaccine Data

New Report Suggests FCC Massively Overstated Gigabit Coverage in U.S.

Pantone’s Colors of the Year, Ranked

Microsoft Is Bringing Its Cloud Gaming Platform to PCs and iOS Next Spring

Sharp’s New Alexa-Powered Microwave Is Even More Confusing Than Amazon’s

Facebook Continues To Call The Kettle Black

FTC and 48 Attorneys General Sue to Break Up Facebook

Leaked Anthropic Model Presents ‘Unprecedented Cybersecurity Risks,’ Much to Pentagon’s Pleasure

Don’t miss out: Bitdefender, One of the World’s Best Antiviruses, Is Now on Sale

The Secret to Better Sperm? It’s Probably Already on Your Schedule

Lego Is Leaning Into Your Marvel Memories With a New Helicarrier Set

Toshiba’s 65-inch Smart Fire TV Now Matches 43-Inch Pricing After 44% Drop on Amazon

Kash Patel’s Email Account Hacked, Iran-Linked Group Takes Credit

Repair Workers Accidentally Stumble Upon Lost Remains of Legendary ‘Fourth Musketeer’

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum Mop Drops 20% Shortly After Launch in the Spring Cleaning Sale

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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